Joy in the Little Things

[digitS']

They are talking about snacking on the Today show. One anchor wondered aloud if decriminalizing marijuana has added to the increase sales despite a higher food price .

I'm wondering about how to increase the flavor of the dry anise hyssop I bothered to buy. The new store-bought lemon verbena is only okay. Nothing beats home grown ... ahem .

I have the store-bought peppermint licorice in the mix. It helps but the mint sorta overtakes the lemon. Not bad. I have had my homegrown cold and it's fine. Grab a bottle of Pure Leaf from the store, now and then but ... I gotta really be in the mood for the sugar high. Like – really rundown from Summer heat and outdoor work.

Steve

 

[Phaedra]

The arbor trellis is collecting rain water as expected, yeh!

 

[Phaedra]

I'm wondering about how to increase the flavor of the dry anise hyssop I bothered to buy.

How about adding some fresh fruit?

 

[Phaedra]

I picked some lettuce for growing in the greenhouse. Their colors are so fabulous.

 

[flowerbug]

thunder and lightning last night which tells me that spring is finally not too far off. i love storms and used to walk in the rain as often as i could.

 

[baymule]

Summer is on the way, up to 80F today. In honor of the strength sapping increasing heat, I have upped the sugar content in my gallon of iced tea from half a cup to three quarters cup. It gives a little extra kick to those afternoon breaks.

 

[Zeedman]

thunder and lightning last night which tells me that spring is finally not too far off. i love storms and used to walk in the rain as often as i could.

Here too, several rounds of thunderstorms rolled through. But to me, it's not the thunder which heralds the first taste of Spring... it's the miraculous appearance of small running springs of water in my basement. Hmmm... maybe that's why it is called "Spring"?

 

[Zeedman]

Summer is on the way, up to 80F today. In honor of the strength sapping increasing heat, I have upped the sugar content in my gallon of iced tea from half a cup to three quarters cup. It gives a little extra kick to those afternoon breaks.

Maybe add a little coffee to the mix and make... teafee? I'll bet that would knock the rust off the bucket.

 

[flowerbug]

Here too, several rounds of thunderstorms rolled through. But to me, it's not the thunder which heralds the first taste of Spring... it's the miraculous appearance of small running springs of water in my basement. Hmmm... maybe that's why it is called "Spring"?

perhaps.

i was thinking a few nights ago how Mom was commenting upon the sump pump running and that normally this would be about the time that happens more often, but this past winter was so warm that at various times and with the thaws and rains we had the sump pump had run many times this past winter.

normally it would be too cold for the ground to thaw that much and not much water would get through the ground to get to where the sump pump drain lines would pick it up.

i'm glad for the rains we've had as it as been fairly dry even if it seems like we've had a lot of snow and ice, yet there really wasn't a whole lot of moisture in any of those storms to raise the rivers much. we were driving back the other day from a neighboring small town and i noticed how low the river was that tells me how we're doing on rains. we're probably a good six inches behind normal and perhaps more stretched over the past few years.

the house is on-grade or at the level of the subsoil and then they filled in around it to raise the whole area up (good thing because we're right in the middle of the local flow) so the footing drains connected to the sump pump do not usually run unless we've had a few inches of rain, then after a day or two the pump doesn't need to run any more until the next time.

eventually, if i stay here longer term i'm going to turn this space into a long wetland for froggies and toads - i just need to get a big enough liner and make the edges have more hiding spaces, bring in some nice big chunks of logs and put in the inlet flows and outlet flows. not much rerouting to do of anything because that's where the house sump drain pipe goes through anyways... for the dry times i can run a small line from the big ditch out back and use a small solar pump to move the water.

but then it would attract even more raccoon traffic than what we have aleady... hmm...

 

[digitS']

How about adding some fresh fruit?

If it's fresh, I have strawberries from California and Mexico to choose from, at the moment. It was a little discouraging to look at the new bag of cranberries that I just opened and see that they are "sweetened." So ... the value that I notice from the cranberries is the sweetness and that is from added sugar? I can't seem to taste the cranberry flavor ... hmmm. (Do you have cranberries in Germany, Phaedra?)

I've moved on from the oolong to the herbal tea this AM. DD was over this weekend and I brewed some to share with our dessert. Left out the dried anise hyssop and realized that there is some benefit even if I had imagined that there wasn't. So, I didn't fail to have it in the mix this morning. Nice.

What is the word for detecting flavors? I can't think of it right now. Should take a short stroll out to check on the "little things" in the greenhouse. Will need to tread carefully on the backsteps, however. Light covering of s.n.o.w!

Steve